In 13th Age, there is a background system for skill checks - essentially you allocate skill points an abstract background. then, when a skill check comes along, you roll against the difficulty, adding the background that is relevant. You explain why this is relevant in the game. I think it makes a nice background.

So, for Fate of the Norns, I propose the following:

Ignore the skill boards and all the skills in the book

Pick a number of backgrounds

Assign your Essence in points/runes to them

You can assign no more than four or your Destiny in (whichever is less) runes to any one. You can add 1 to this limit for every Disir level you have.

You get one for your sub-archetype (assassin for Sceadegengan, enchanter for galdr, etc) because of your void rune

I've not played HARN, so I have no idea, but it was the source of a good many cool roleplaying moments in game.

There will be some modifications to deal with. Things like shapechanging for the druid, or some of the other passives that rely on skill levels, but I don't think anything that is going to be too horrible to alter.

The below is a copy and paste of a Narative Character Gen system we did for our HARN Rules based Game of thrones RPG

A RANK in HARN is a multiplier that is used against the associated stats which converted into a % , so that bit is of no relevance to FotN, but the concept is inline with your idea Raleel. Would be great to see how we can develop this. HARN also aged characters in positive and negative ways, so creating an older character gave you more chance to do more and get more skills but also more chance to suffer some degenerative injury / misfortune... though you couldn't die in character creation....I think

Opening a skill, just means the character uses and learns it for the first time.

(All characters start at age 14 , when you send your narration in, do not use ages or to define when things happen, just the outline starting at 14. )

Jethrow was born in the Iron Islands, the son of a Raider and his wife. As a young boy he played hard, studied little and prepared himself for a life of raiding the soft shores of the Westerlands! His teen years were focused on the family business, of raiding, and his formative years focused on those skills, he is now 18.

As well as the core “free skills” he also then gets (opens)

Spear at Rank 6Round Shield at Rank 6Keltan at Rank 5Seamanship at Rank 4Initiative at Rank 5Foraging at Rank 4Survival at Rank 4Heraldry at Rank 2Physician at Rank 2Weaponcraft at Rank 2

His Free Skills (that everyone gets /opens are)

Climbing at Rank 4Jumping at Rank 4Stealth at Rank 3Throwing at Rank 4Awareness at Rank 4Intrigue at Rank 3Oratory at Rank 2Rhetoric at Rank 3Singing at Rank 3Unarmed Combat at Rank 4Initiative at Rank 4 (but starts at rank 5 as above)

At age 18 he spends a further 2 years raiding as part of the crew, spending time rowing, fixing sails, and raiding. This grants him 18 points to spend on skill which can be added to any skill on a one skill point for one percent basis (to a max of 5 per skill), or he can spend 5 of them to open a new skill at the opening Rank. He is now 20 and Jethrow opts to spend as follows

And because he hopes to be elevated within his ship to a better position he spends 5 Skill points training with the Battle Axe!

That Opens at Rank 3.

There is little else to do in the Iron Islands for a warrior so he pushes on with his career and sure enough his dedication pays off and he is elevated to the position of Raid leader, this leads to four more years of raiding and he is now 24 and has gained skills as follows

At this point Jethrow is 28 and hears about some old friends that are up to no good, he decides to see what they are up to, and also the coast of the Westerlands has been poor pickings the past 2 years!

Yea, this is sort of similar, but less of a breakdown. Jethrow, in 13th age and under this house rule, would have

Raided on the coast 2 (or whatever rank)

and then when he wanted to climb or jump or seamanship, the player would say "I learned how to do that when I raided on the coast. It's a vital skill for that sort of thing" or similar. The norn would just call for a wyrd to do a thing and the player gets to define how they end up doing it.

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